Burglary Insurance to Protect Your Business from Theft and Break-Ins
Burglary Insurance
Burglary and attempted burglary can leave your business property ransacked and damaged. The extent of such damage can go beyond the value of the stolen items, and your property may suffer partial or total loss or destruction due to a forced or violent burglary attempt.
A burglary insurance plan helps you keep your property and valuables insured against such unlawful actions and violations. At Tata AIG, you can get a burglary insurance cover along with our fire insurance plan for your business operations.
What is Burglary Insurance
Burglary insurance is a type of property insurance that protects your business from unlawful damages caused to assets like furnishings, fixtures, machinery, equipment, etc., due to a burglary/theft.
Here, Burglary means unforeseen and unauthorised entry into the premises by forcible, violent and visible means with the intent to steal contents or property.
Whereas, Theft implies intending to take movable property dishonestly without your consent with the intention of permanently depriving you of the property.
Generally, this insurance policy comes bundled with a fire insurance plan. It is included as an add-on option under our Tata AIG Business Guard Laghu and Sookshma plans.
In short, burglary insurance offers additional security to your insured property by providing more coverage against insured events like burglary and attempted burglary. It applies to private entities, shops, or any business or office spaces you own.
Why Do You Need Burglary Insurance?
Property Cover
If someone breaks into your office premises and steals your merchandise in stock, fittings, and other assets, it could result in a considerable loss. Opting for burglary insurance will offer more financial security and cover any subsequent losses.
It can be especially beneficial if you live in a theft-prone area, as it will cover damages caused to the premises resulting from any robberies, and the cost of the stolen goods will be compensated by your insurer.
Value for Money
As stated, property losses are a huge expense to bear. However, paying an additional premium for this extended coverage can help you save money in the long run. It is because any compensation expenses without insurance would need to be borne by you as opposed to your insurer covering the losses.
Covers All Business Categories
Burglary insurance covers all property types under its plans. It includes office spaces, independent shops, chain stores, etc., regardless of their size. For example, owners of large corporations with multiple people entering their premises benefit from purchasing burglary insurance.
It is also useful for people who leave their premises unattended for long periods or for owners of large storage spaces where a lot of goods are stored.
Risk-Proof Businesses
Business owners opt for burglary insurance because they risk-proof businesses from violent or hostile robberies. So if your office space or business is in an area prone to theft, it may be time to get burglary insurance coverage to prevent future losses.
Key Features of Burglary Insurance
Wide Coverage: We understand how much you value your possessions. Therefore, we cover any loss or damage to the contents caused by burglary/housebreaking or hold-up.
Additionally, you get coverage for any damage to the premises described in the policy schedule during burglary/housebreaking or hold-up.
Safety Measures: In case of an unfortunate incident, we compensate you for the reasonable cost incurred by you for the repair/ replacement of damaged locks and keys of safes and strong room within the insured premises (subject to a limit of 5% of admissible claim) to ensure your safety in the future.
Cost of Repairs: Repairs are expensive! Understanding this, we compensate you for the repair cost of underground cable, pipes, and overhead tanks damaged during burglary/housebreaking or holdup (subject to a limit of 5% of admissible claim).
Affordable Premium: Burglary and housebreaking can result in expensive potential damages. Hence, burglary insurance premiums are usually pretty high. However, at Tata AIG, we try to give you the best possible protection for your prized possessions at affordable premiums.
Digital Process: You get a paperless, digital, and transparent process with Tata AIG that starts right from buying a burglary insurance plan online to filing an online claim against your policy.
Who Can Avail of a Burglary Insurance Policy?
A burglary insurance cover is available for a wide category of customers:
Homeowners: Building a home, be it an apartment, a bungalow, a villa, or a duplex house, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and people go to extensive lengths to furnish and decorate it to match their taste and lifestyle.
Moreover, it may also serve as a site for business operations for small business owners.
With a burglary insurance cover in place, you need not worry about restoring and repairing your dream home in the unfortunate event of a burglary in your house.
Renters: Similarly, do you live in a rented property and worry about your expensive gadgets, appliances, and other valuable items in the house?
You may be surprised to know that you can insure your possessions in a rented property under burglary insurance coverage without paying the policy premium for the entire property.
Business owners: Starting even a small business may require a lifetime of savings, and a single act of burglary can leave your business finances in a state of despair. With a burglary insurance cover, you can insure your business, however big or small, against these events.
Several categories of business, such as educational institutions, hospitals, healthcare centres, grocery stores and supermarkets, electronic and automobile stores, godowns and warehouses, manufacturing units, motor garages, etc., can be conveniently secured against burglary with burglary insurance cover.
Large business organisations: As your business grows, your stakes in it also grow. Therefore, to protect your expanding business and yourself against the damaging effects of burglary, you can secure it with a burglary insurance cover.
This cover is apt for huge businesses such as malls, shopping complexes, chains of restaurants or hotels, etc.
Combinations of Fire and Burglary Insurance at Tata AIG
At Tata AIG, we offer a comprehensive Fire Insurance plan which offers a burglary cover. With this, you get all-round coverage against fire & burglary under one umbrella.
That said, there are also other covers you can opt for under these policies that can increase the coverage of your burglary cover. These, much like burglary insurance, must be opted for on policy purchase and require you to pay an additional premium to access their benefits.
Here are three prospective combinations you can choose to maximise your policy coverage when buying burglary insurance from Tata AIG:
Fire and Burglary: It is our basic fire and burglary insurance plan that offers coverage against fire and other insured events, burglary/ housebreaking or hold-up.
Fire and Burglary Money Insurance: Under this plan, you get money insurance along with the basic fire and burglary insurance coverage. The money insurance cover includes money in safe, money in transit, and money at hand/till/counter.
Fire and Burglary Money Insurance + Public Liability: This plan offers a public liability cover along with the fire and burglary and Money Insurance coverage. The public liability coverage includes claims arising from third-party liabilities caused by the business.
Advantages of Burglary Insurance
Flexibility: A burglary insurance cover is flexible enough to provide coverage according to your requirement. If you own a large-scale business, you can opt for a higher sum insured for a higher premium.
On the other hand, if your insurance requirement is limited, owing to the value of your property, you can opt for a lesser cover and pay a relatively lower policy premium.
Extensive Eligibility: The burglary insurance cover is not limited to a few categories of insurance buyers. You can protect your shop, boutique, salon, factory, etc., with burglary insurance.
You can even insure other property like stock or machinery present within your premises with burglary insurance without buying a cover for the entire property.
Value for Money: A burglary insurance cover protects your insured property and valuables against burglary and attempted burglary.
Hence you get complete value for your money with this cover. Moreover, since it comes with a fire insurance policy, you get coverage against several unfortunate events such as fire, earthquake, cyclone, riots, etc.
Timely Claim Support: Timely support is essential when you are distressed over a burglary incident on your property.
At Tata AIG, we ensure timely support to our policyholders to guide them through the claim filing and settlement process or any other queries they may have regarding their burglary insurance coverage.
Easy Claim Settlement: With Tata AIG, you get a quick and straightforward claim settlement process for your burglary insurance claim. You can file an offline or online claim through a claim form that you can get at any of our branches and on our website.
Inclusions Under Burglary Insurance
As stated above, our burglary insurance cover can be opted for under our fire insurance policy for your property. However, for a better understanding, here is a list of inclusions under the burglary insurance part of the policy:
| Exclusions | Details |
|---|---|
| Jewellery, Personal Effects, Works of Art, Etc. | Gold or silver articles, watches, jewellery, precious stones, medals, coins, curios, sculptures, manuscripts, rare books, plans, specifications, patterns, models, moulds, and designs - unless specifically mentioned in the schedule and expressly included in the policy. |
| Documents | Deeds, bonds, bills of exchange, promissory notes, money or securities for money, stamps, books of accounts, business books or documents, cheques, share certificates, promissory notes, tickets, stamp collection, coin collections, blueprints, documents of title to goods, contracts or other legal documents, or documents of any other kind. |
| Fire | Loss of damage by fire, however, caused. |
| Loss and Damage if the Insured or the Insured Person’s Employee, Inmate, or Member is Involved in the Theft. | Claims for damages and losses where you, your employees, group members, or inmates are involved in the theft will not be admissible. |
| Natural Disasters | Losses and damages resulting directly, indirectly, remotely or proximately from earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, typhoon hurricanes, tornados, cyclones, or other convulsions of nature or atmospheric disturbances. |
| Reported Losses Due to Negligence/Deception | Unexplained loss due to errors or willful omissions. Losses discovered when making an inventory or periodic stock-taking. Loss resulting from your voluntarily parting with title or possession of any property. Loss of property resulting from deception. |
| Loss From Loot, Ransack, Spillage, or Pilferage | Loot: Seizing and carrying away property by force or violent means. Pilferage: Theft of contents in small quantities by authorised personnel on the insured premises. Ransack: Loss or damage to the property while searching through or examining the premises through violent/careless means. Spillage: Flow, movement, fall or spread of contents over the edge of or outside the container/premises. |
Exclusions Under Burglary Insurance
Here is what we do not cover under our burglary insurance cover for an insured property:
| Exclusions | Details |
|---|---|
| Jewellery, Personal Effects, Works of Art, Etc. | Gold or silver articles, watches, jewellery, precious stones, medals, coins, curios, sculptures, manuscripts, rare books, plans, specifications, patterns, models, moulds, and designs - unless specifically mentioned in the schedule and expressly included in the policy. |
| Documents | Deeds, bonds, bills of exchange, promissory notes, money or securities for money, stamps, books of accounts, business books or documents, cheques, share certificates, promissory notes, tickets, stamp collection, coin collections, blueprints, documents of title to goods, contracts or other legal documents, or documents of any other kind. |
| Fire | Loss of damage by fire, however, caused. |
| Loss and Damage if the Insured or the Insured Person’s Employee, Inmate, or Member is Involved in the Theft. | Claims for damages and losses where you, your employees, group members, or inmates are involved in the theft will not be admissible. |
| Natural Disasters | Losses and damages resulting directly, indirectly, remotely or proximately from earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, typhoon hurricanes, tornados, cyclones, or other convulsions of nature or atmospheric disturbances. |
| Reported Losses Due to Negligence/Deception | Unexplained loss due to errors or willful omissions. Losses discovered when making an inventory or periodic stock-taking. Loss resulting from your voluntarily parting with title or possession of any property. Loss of property resulting from deception. |
| Loss From Loot, Ransack, Spillage, or Pilferage | Loot: Seizing and carrying away property by force or violent means. Pilferage: Theft of contents in small quantities by authorised personnel on the insured premises. Ransack: Loss or damage to the property while searching through or examining the premises through violent/careless means. Spillage: Flow, movement, fall or spread of contents over the edge of or outside the container/premises. |
| Thefts and Attempted Theft Occurring Outside of Your Premises | Yards, gardens, open spaces, or outbuildings unless the contents are specifically insured under the policy. |
| Permanent or Temporary Dispossession By Lawful Authorities | Permanent or temporary dispossession resulting from confiscation, commandeering, or requisition by lawfully constituted authorities. |
| Inoccupation of Premises | If the premises/insured property has been left unattended for 30 or more consecutive days and nights. |
| Alterations to the Premises | Any material alterations to the premises that can increase risk or facilitates the relaxation of safeguards protecting the premises/insured property. |
| Claim Amount | The first amount of each and every claim stated in the policy as the excess or deductible. |
How to File a Burglary Insurance Claim?
Follow these steps to file a claim against your Fire and Burglary insurance policy with Tata AIG:
Visit the Tata AIG official website.
Click on 'Claims' on the top tab of the homepage.
Click 'Initiate A Claim' and choose your product type; in this case, it will be 'AIGC.'
Login with your registered phone number.
Fill out the claims form and upload any necessary documents.
After submitting your claim, an insurance agent will contact you to guide you through the process.
Documents Required for Filing a Burglary Insurance Claim
Duly filled and signed claim form. You can find the claim form on our website and at any of our branch offices.
FIR of the burglary.
A copy of the authorised burglary insurance policy, including the policy schedule and clauses.
Sufficient proof of occurrence of the insured event in the form of photographs.
Any other supporting information and documents that may help with the claim settlement process.
Things to Remember Before Buying a Burglary Insurance Policy
Consider the following tips to make the right buying decision to secure your property against burglary:
List out all your personal or business possessions that are exposed to theft or burglary.
Compare various property insurance providers online and understand their burglary insurance cover offering in detail.
Select the burglary insurance cover with maximum coverage and benefits for the most reasonable policy premium.
Check if you can add on a cover for theft under the burglary insurance policy of your choice. It increases your policy’s coverage scope.
Ensure that you do not opt for a lesser sum insured, as it will leave you without sufficient cover when the need arises.
Find out the various ways in which you can reduce the burglary insurance policy premium to avail of a cost-effective policy.
Factors Affecting the Burglary Insurance Policy Premium
The premium for a burglary insurance policy broadly depends on the following 2 factors:
The market value of the property and assets insured. The higher the value, the more the premium.
The level of risk of burglary and other insured events to which the property and other valuables are exposed. The higher the risk, the more the premium.
Here are a few ways by which you can reduce your burglary insurance premium:
Install safety devices like alarms in your home or office that send a notification to the property owner if there is an attempt of forced entry or any other similar unlawful activity on the premises.
Install CCTV cameras at all entry points and other vulnerable areas on the premises, which discourages intruders from entering the property. Moreover, in case of an event, you have sufficient recorded evidence from the CCTV recordings to file a claim.
Have a strong fence or boundary wall around the premises.
Avoid letting strangers know about your travel plans or dates when your property will be unoccupied.
Secure your valuables in an advanced safe or locker.
Choose the right amount of deductibles, and do not opt right away for the lowest deductibles. It will help reduce your policy premium. However, avoid choosing the highest deductibles because you will have to pay from your pocket if a mishap occurs.
Shop around to choose the best option with the maximum coverage for a reasonable policy premium.
Keep an updated record of your valuables and properties. Provide the insurer with the correct information and value of your properties at the time of purchasing the property.
Disclaimer / TnC
Your policy is subjected to terms and conditions & inclusions and exclusions mentioned in your policy wording. Please go through the documents carefully.
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